Tear You Apart by Sarah Cross

Tear You Apart is the companion novel to Kill Me Softly. Tear You Apart follow’s Mira’s (from Kill Me Softly) friend Vivian (Viv) who has a Snow White Curse. I don’t remember how much I liked or enjoyed Kill Me Softly since I read it back in 2013 (so many books ago) and never added a rating to Goodreads, but I do know that I liked Kill Me Softly more than Tear You Apart.

The problem with Tear You Apart is its characters. The characters aren’t flat, luckily, but they were super annoying. Everyone claimed to be a hero or wanted to be a hero and yet they all behaved like damsels in distress. Characters claimed to be heroic or strong up until they had to stand up against someone and then they just wanted to or remained quiet hoping the opposer would go away or someone else would step in. All the characters wanted to take control of their lives and live happily ever after, but once they realized all the work they’d have to do, they either looked for the bright side of their current situation or wondered who would come and help them. The characters were annoying because they were all talk and no action.

The only slightly redeeming/ interesting part was the last two to three chapters when Viv confronts the troll. Unlike the other characters, at the very end it seemed like Viv finally realized that she was all talk and no action and with the life of the person she loves on the line, she finally gains some strength and courage to fight for herself and “save the day” instead of waiting for a prince to come and save her. The ending isn’t fist-pump exciting, but it’s what made me rate Tear You Apart a two instead of a one.

Why Kill Me Softly is better than Tear You Apart: Mira is no better of a character than Viv, but what sets these two books apart is that Mira didn’t know about her curse until she ran away to Beau Rivage and then she tried to figure her life out; Viv knew about her curse for majority of her life, but she didn’t do anything about it until it was too late. Viv didn’t distance herself from the person who was meant to kill her or try to learn self-defense instead she fell in love with her potential murderer and hoped that someone, a prince, would come and save her when the time was right. That’s one thing I dislike about this series: most the characters who were raised in Beau Rivage hate their curses, but they don’t try to prepare for their enactment or try to avoid them. The characters just hope that things will work out in their favor, but when you have villains who want to win, heroes who want to win, and people who are waiting to be saved, someone’s bound to lose so why not try to tip the scales in your favor as soon as possible?